REFLECTION: July 30, 2017 - Proper 12 / Ordinary 17 /
Pentecost +8
Romans
8:36-37 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are
being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered””.
So
many that I know, have gone through and are going through, hardship and
distress, some element of persecution and peril. It is enormously testing to their faith and
ours when we can seem to do nothing but watch helplessly.
I
can’t speak for anyone else, but I myself have had many an argument with God
about the situations. I don’t understand
it and I don’t like it and I don’t want it.
The
early followers of Jesus decided that the truth that was found in Jesus Christ
and the message of salvation, was of such value that they suffered these things
and kept firm to the faith even to death.
In many cases the suffering was a direct consequence of accepting the
salvation of Christ and the early Christians realized this. We, on the other hand, have become somewhat
removed from the fact that there are powers and principalities that rage
against the people of God and so we find it a rude shock.
When
we understand, and have a clear vision of where we are going and what is
happening around us, we can push through hardships.
The
first reading tells us of the story of Jacob who worked for Laban for seven
years so that he could earn the right to marry Laban’s daughter Rachel. And further on in the story we discover that
Laban was not an easy man to work. Laban
was so deceptive that he even swapped the girl that Jacob was working for and
gave Jacob the older sister Leah instead.
When
we read the story, we are only getting the short version. Jacob was obviously upset that the girl he
loved was not his after the agreed 7 years.
And I’m guessing, that distress that we read, is by far an
understatement. We read “7 years” and
think nothing of it, but a lot can happen in 7 years and then Jacob finds he
has to work another 7 years to earn the girl he loves! In the meantime he is looking after two
women, who become jealous of each other, and he is kept continually frustrated
in keeping peace with his underhanded, snake in the grass of a father-in-law,
as well as trying to make a life for himself and family.
Jacob
only wanted Rachel for his wife. What he
got was a whole lot of trouble, 2 wives, 2 hand maids and his wages changed
over and over again. Then later in life,
that wife that he loved was taken from him, as she died in childbirth. Then the firstborn son of that loved one was
sold into Egypt (although he thought he’d been killed by a beast). So much sorrow and hardship for one man.
Jacob
persisted because he had a vision and a promise. He worked hard and willingly, and suffered
the injustices because he loved Rachel.
He also had previously had a divine dream of the ladder connecting
heaven and earth with God at the top who spoke of promises for him and his
family:
Genesis
28:13-15 “… “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac;
the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your
descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to
the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in
your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you
wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you
until I have done what I have promised you.”
The
hardship and those things that Jacob may have seen as problems to his own plan
were actually used to bless Jacob.
Through having not one wife, but two, Jacob had an empire – the sons who
would become the famous 12 tribes of Israel.
So
here is the message for us; When hardships come, are we aware that there is
more at play than what we can see?
Romans 8: 28 tells us “We know that all things work together for good
for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” And it goes on in Romans 8: 30 to say that
those who God foreknew, he predestined, those predestined he also called; and
those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also
glorified.
Romans
8:31 “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is
against us?”
The
problem for us is that we need to have the vision of God and the promises
declared to us and we need to believe them.
We
read in Matthew 13:44-46 “ “The kingdom
of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it
again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a
merchant looking for fine pearls. When
he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought
it.”
Both
of these parables tell of giving ALL for the treasure that is hidden to most,
but revealed to the person. How can we
know that there is a promise personally for us, so that we can hold unswerving
to the faith?
I have
two suggestions to leave you with;
The
Gospel reading ends by saying that Jesus was like a prophet in his home town,
rejected and we read in Matthew 13:58 “And he did not do many miracles there
because of their lack of faith.” I’d
like to suggest that it isn’t that somehow Jesus' ability was linked to their faith,
but that they didn’t have the faith to ask him and therefore, not to impose his
will on theirs, he was limited.
The
message for us is to have the faith to ask and to seek.
The
last suggestion is connected to the first.
We need to put ourselves in places where we can hear from God. God does visit us on our journey, without our
promptings, but when we are in times of distress and hardship we need to be
connected to those who can remind us of his promises and enable our vision.
Connect
with people who encourage and comfort by declaring the promises of God, such as
these (some of my personal favourites) found in Romans 8: 38, 39 “For I am
convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor
height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And
this bring to mind one of my very favourite original songs - which seems like a good way to punctuate
this reflection, Please have a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myf24t8cnsQ